G54B's 1981 Mitsubishi Scorpion

[G54B]

Hi, I'm Josh, I'm from the other side of the Tasman and this be my beloved shitbox.

No idea what you'd call it on that side of the ditch, Sapporo maybe? Who knows, you lot got all sorts of cool stuff.

Discussion thread be here: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=35180

'81 model Mitsubishi Scorpion, A165H chassis code. Paint's dead, as were the front guards/bonnet/beaver panel, hence the white/silver GE/GH front end. Next to no rust, which is nice.

4G54, KM132, blah blah blah. Typical 80's Mitsubishi fare, sounds like a truck and doesn't rev but it drives nice when it hasn't exploded. Plenty of torque, and the gearbox is in surprisingly good nick given that it hasn't been serviced since 1992. Has 4.667 diff gears out of an Express van, Centura shocks/springs front, stock shocks and lowered springs from my old GE rear. Looks silly with the reverse rake, but that'll be fixed soon enough. Brakes are 100% stock, right down to the siezed driver's front caliper. Should probably do something about that.

Went through it like a bad curry a couple months back when I had a rush of motivation and replaced all the bushes, balljoints, tie rods etc. Still needs pitman and idler arms, but I'll get to that.

Rims are 14x6 +17 Fortrans up front, 14x7 +0 Centrelines out back. Tyres are 185/65 Goodyears.

Was originally auto, but old mate who owned it before me dropped in a short KM132 and 4G54 Astron I from a GH when the original motor crapped itself. So, it has a hacked trans tunnel to clear the shifter, and the console's had a similar hack job performed. Looks balls.

Plans are to rebuild the engine again, properly this time, with new rings/bearings, deleted balance shafts etc. Might use the 4G52GS cam I have to give it a bit extra up top. Ported intake, 34ADM, dodge up an airbox setup using a carby hat, a few silicone bends and whatever airbox I can get to fit where the overflow is, 2.5" exhaust with a decent triple-pass muffler at the rear and give the gearbox a birthday. I'll eventually swap it for a Starion 'box, but it'll do for now.

Suspension's going to be custom-wound 50mm lowered 8kg/6kg springs with KYB Excel-G's. Diff, I have no idea. Probably hunt down a set of 3.9's and weld it.

Inside, I want to hunt down a pair of 80's Bride gradient recliners with the fishnet headrests, find a manual dash cluster, retrim the rear seats to match the front, manual console and recover the dash pad. Maybe a half cage, depends on whether you can skid at EC/Wakefield without one or not. Has a nice dishy 340mm Momo tiller on a HKB boss kit already, so no need to do anything there. Shifter, NFI. Something cool from YAJ, probably.

Outside, gonna keep it looking stockish. Respray in VN white, GK GSR boot spoiler, some sort of front lip, late model taillights, maybe an Eterna grille if I can find one. Wanna badge it as an Eterna, but I'm not entirely sure on that at the moment.

Now for everyone's favorite: rims. Wanna track down a set of 14x7J +0 f/8J -10ish r Advan/Riverside/Weds tris, either that or Starsharks. Will run 195/205 tyres, probably 60 profile, whatever's decent.

More pics! In chronological order even!

These are old ones. Took it the day after I bought the car, in October 2009.

More recent, dicking around with wheels

Bought the Fortrans

Blew it up, borrowed the Hotwires and Fortrans for the Magna I bought to get about in, bought the Centrelines

Crashed the Magna

Moved the Centrelines to the rear, Fortrans back on the front

Inside

Bone stock 4G54, BEAST (has a 4G52 rocker cover, hence the Astron 80 thing)

Anyway.

And I should have some progress to report by next Monday. Car's currently without an engine, again. Apparently they BHG if the heater tap breaks, pisses the contents of your cooling system into the drivers footwell and makes the car overheat, who knew?

Meh, needed rings anyway.

Ciao.

[G54B]

Stereo isn't going to be much. Pioneer head deck with ipod control, 4" coaxials up front in the kick panels, 6x9's in the parcel shelf and a 2ch amp. Should be plenty, I don't need thunderous bass for what I listen to.

Longterm plans are for a built MPI Starion 4G63T with Wiseco forgies, 'peened VR4 rods, 4G64 head, Ralliart copy cam and a TD06SL2, RX7 'box, 3.9:1 R31 diff, KAAZ 2-way, Starion brakes, half cage and a fixed back. Sensible boost, aiming for 270rwhp at most.

Edit: Oh, and the horn button doesn't work. Might just throw this back on for rego, then spend a bit of time trawling YAJ for something cool for the Momo.

[G54B]

Also, this doesn't have a rear swaybar. Gonna have to work out something regarding that, I think. Sigma swaybar, Sigma lower trailing arms, fabricate diff mounts? Shouldn't be too hard, but I weld like a mildly retarded ape so I might have to get the old bloke to do that bit.

[G54B]

Edit: Gonna stick to this plan, it's a good one. Somebody deliver a resounding e-slap if I deviate from it.

-Rebuilt Astron I, deleted balance shafts, matchported intake, 34ADM, dodge up an airbox setup using a carby hat, a few silicone bends and whatever airbox I can get to fit where the overflow is, extractors, my dodgy exhaust.

-Give the gearbox a birthday. New shifter bushes, oil, seals etc.

-Cut EF Falcon front springs, new shocks (front), '78-'80 Lovells lowered springs, Magna wagon shocks (rear)

-Inside, stock seats, nice, dishy 340mm Momo tiller, HKB boss kit.

-Outside, fix the rust, GK GSR boot spoiler (matte black), Mk1 Golf lip (also matte black).

-14x6 +17 Fortrans, 185/65 tyres (front), 14x7 +0 Centrelines, 185/65 tyres (rear)

Things will obviously get less dodgy in the future, lack of $$$ is a major issue here.

[G54B]

G54 is on the stand in the shed, ripped it apart to discover shagged balance shaft bearings and a couple broken rings. No bore damage though, thankfully. Bores are bloody brilliant, no wear lip and there's still a faint crosshatching from the last time it was re-ringed. Standard size, too. Gonna be able to get away with just a re-ring and a hone, which is always nice.

Balance shaft eliminator kit, new rings and a hone, come at me. Should be running soon.

Oh, attempted to weld up the front half of the exhaust as well. It's basically a set of 4-2-1 extractors with a 2" in/out 18" hotdog (stole it from an N13 Pulsar with a ghey cannon, lol) welded to the end, and a slip joint welded to the end of that to attach it to the rear half of the exhaust, which will be stock for now.

Didn't *quite* work. Birdshit welds aside it's held together fine, no holes or anything, but there's a bit of cut/weld required so it lines up right. As it stands, the aforementioned slip joint is about 30mm below where the stock flange would be. Will get onto that this weekend as well.

[G54B]

Excuse the teeny weeny homo phone pic.

Dunno if you can see much, but I found this in the passenger sill. Lovely, innit? Was stuffed with oily rags and covered over with a thin skim of bog. Gotta love dodgy kents.

HOWEVER.

Surprisingly, that's pretty much it. Bit in the boot that needs grinding back and hitting with rust convertor, there's a wee little hole under the driver's door latch and very, very minor rust around the rear window, but other than that it's surprisingly solid.

I managed to slightly munt the upper ringland edges whilst cleaning the pistons up, they're a tad more round than they should be but meh. It's not *too* bad, so I'll just slap it together and run it while I bugger about collecting the remaining bits for the motor Dad's talked me into putting together for it.

[G54B]

Drove this today. Needs a wheel alignment, interior's still in a million pieces and had to take it easy because it's missing the flywheel dustcover and battery clamp, but still.

[G54B]

I should likely mention that the G54 is still on a stand in the shed. Sister's boyfriend and I hooked in and threw a GH-spec 4G52/GE Scorp narrow KM132 in it over the October long weekend.

Turns out making exhausts is a pain in the arse. Bit of cutting/welding was needed so that the front half I made up before would line up with the exhaust, and I had to reuse the stock rear muffler, but it's done. Actually sounds pretty sweet.

Spec sheet (as of 23/10/12)

Engine: 2.0L 4G52, 4G52GS cam, Crow uprated valve springs, port-matched manifold, standard carb converted to manual secondaries, unknown 4-2-1 extractors, 18" hotdog, 2" back to a standard rear muffler

Drivetrain: GE Scorpion short KM132, Daikin HD clutch, 4.667:1 diff gears

Suspension: Stock springs, Monroe Centura shocks (front), GE/GH Scorpion Lovells Low springs, Monroe shocks (rear), red poly bushes (because red goes faster )

Brakes: Stock

Wheels: 14x6 +17 (f), 14x7 +0 ®, 185/65 tyres

Interior: Momo dished tiller/HKB bosskit, Panasonic head deck, 6" Sony speakers

Body Work: GE/GH guards/beaver panel/bonnet/indicators

Estimated Power: I dunno, 80rwhp maybe? Not much either way.

[Guest G54B]

Lawng tiem noe updaet.

Pretty much as before, with the addition of a working horn and a few other things. Oh, and some low in the front.

Here, have a pic.

Needs shocks and a wheel alignment and it could probably go for rego.